


The Ages of This World Alone

by duchessofthemoonbase



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: 1890s, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Day 4, F/M, damereycreationsweek
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:14:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27250279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/duchessofthemoonbase/pseuds/duchessofthemoonbase
Summary: Cambridge Professor Poe Dameron has spent the last ten years of his career creating and enforcing regulations on time travel: making sure the past is left untouched and unchanged.But when he travels back to the slums of Victorian London, he meets a headstrong young woman who will capture his affections—and test everything he believes in.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Rey
Comments: 6
Kudos: 20





	The Ages of This World Alone

**Author's Note:**

> Damerey Creations Week Day 4: Time Travel!
> 
> This is a bit more of a preview than a proper first chapter: I'm still making a lot of decisions in terms of the outline, but this will probably be what I'm posting in early 2021. I hope you enjoy this snippet for Damerey Week: stay tuned! :)

****

**2025, Cambridge University.**

“You _know_ how serious this is.”

Kaydel sighed as she slumped further into her chair. “I know, Professor Dameron, but I figured it wouldn’t be a big deal! It was only 2005 and I figured no one would notice. And I paid for it and everything!”

“You _paid_ for it?” he seethed. “With what money!?”

“Coins. I checked the dates on all of them. Not one out of place.”

Poe sighed, his gaze falling on the contraband object on the table. “Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to take souvenirs from an expedition? The kinds of consequences?”

“Yes, sir, I’m sorry, I just—”

“Look, Kaydel,” Poe said, running his fingers through his beard. “If you want to travel further back, do something a little more exciting than data collection, you need to start following the rules.” He glared at the item, the fluorescent lights of his office ceiling glaring off the metal. “You know how competitive this program is, and this is enough to get you expelled.”

Kaydel paled as Poe put on a pair of gloves and placed the object in a plastic bag with a pair of tongs. He placed it in one of his desk drawers, and he could hear it rattle as he shut it closed.

“Since this is only your first infraction,” he said. “I’ll let you off with a warning. But you’re on thin ice. One more mistake, Connix, and you’re out of the program.”

“I understand, professor,” Kaydel said, slinking out of the room. Poe waited until the door clicked shut and grinned.

“Come to papa,” he said, sliding open the drawer and ripping open the bag. He smiled as he held Kaydel’s contraband in his hand, the cool metal of the tin stirring his memories. He popped it open with his thumb, examining one of tiny, powdery candies before popping it in his mouth, savoring the flavor. “Thank you, god above, for letting her bring back the mango ones.”

Just as Poe was submerging himself in bliss, the door burst open. It was his colleague and one of his best friends, Finn, who was sorting through a stack of papers, trying to find something.

“Aha! Got it,” Finn said, pulling a sheet of paper out of the stack. “Here’s the proposal for the medieval expedition. It’s a location just outside of Yorkshire, and—” He froze. “Are those…are those sour altoids?”

“Um.”

“Poe…” Finn said, glaring down at him. “Where the _hell_ did you get those?”

Poe held a hand up. “I didn’t take them, I swear. One of my students did and I confiscated them.”

“And you’re _eating_ them!?”

“They’re only from 2005!”

“Yeah!” Finn exclaimed. “They’ve got 2005 on them! You can’t go eating things that have come back from—”

Poe held out the tin, and Finn grimaced and took one.

“Fuck you, mate,” he said, moaning as he popped one into his mouth. “ _God,_ it’s been years.” He sat down in the chair across from Poe. “But still, it’s a surprise to see you breaking a rule after having to listen to years and years of your non-interference lectures.”

“It would cause more of a disturbance if we tried to put them back in whatever store she bought them from,” he responded, leaning back in his chair. “They’re here now, and _fuck,_ are they delicious. I still don’t understand why they discontinued them.”

Finn shook his head. “Professor Poe Dameron, eating candy from an expedition…I should call the _Daily Mail.”_

Poe laughed, looking up at the display of medals and articles hanging from the walls of his office. For a man who wasn’t even forty, he’d had an impressive career. He was there in 2015 when Dr. Leia Organa perfected the time travel process, and had been with her on a fantastic series of adventures as her second-in-command. While Dr. Organa worked on the scientific side of things, Poe focused more on ethics. As the science of time travel began to become more commonplace, Poe had grown nervous—what would happen if people abused their power; shifted the events of history; worked things to their own advantage?

That’s where his department at Cambridge came in—for the last five years, he’d been teaching the next generation of scientists and historians how to time travel properly, and safely—how to collect the most information for academic purposes without touching a thing. He’d worked with politicians around the world to enact laws enforcing punishments on scientists who broke the rules—you could hardly kick a pebble without some sort of reprimand these days, and as far as Poe was concerned, that was how it should be.

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Finn said. “What are your plans for the upcoming year? Another book about the delicacy of space-time?”

“No, actually,” Poe said. “Now that I’ve gotten things rolling in terms of laws and regulations, I think it might be time for me to go back into historical research.”

“Really? What era?”

Poe pulled out a folder from the self behind him. “The Victorian slums of London,” he said. “God knows we’ve taken enough sneaky videos of the Queen at her parades. We don’t need any more of that. I want to know how everyday people were living—the sort of lives we don’t have much documentation on.”

Finn shrugged. “I still don’t understand how you can do a proper ethnographic study without interviews.”

“I’ll overhear bits of conversation, I’ll pay close attention,” Poe said. “You know how strongly I advise against any sort of interaction with locals on expeditions.”

“You nearly fired a guy because he sneezed too close to someone,” Finn scoffed. “Trust me, we know.”

Poe rolled his eyes. “Hey, I have strong ideas, and I stick by them.”

“Can I have another sour altoid?”

He threw over the tin. “Go nuts.”

**Author's Note:**

> only writing this story to promote my bring back sour altoids political agenda tbh


End file.
